This blog was written by Jackie Steinmetz, owner of Accelity Marketing, for startupsavant.com – read the original blog here.

Return on investment (ROI) can be hard to measure—especially when you’re a marketer. Marketing professionals tackle this in many different ways, but there are a few things to consider while making these decisions.

Here are three universal steps to help you prove your marketing ROI.

1) Establish a strategy first.

If you never truly define your strategy, defining success is impossible. What do you want to accomplish, and how? Make sure you have a plan in place so you can prove exactly what you accomplished.

If you get side tracked, refer back to your plan and see if your current actions align with your master plan. While creating your plan, ask yourself these crucial questions:

Is your strategy measurable?

It’s important that your marketing campaign is measurable. Defining a success indicator is the best way to prove that any initiative in any field is successful, and marketing is no different. So when you’re in the early stages of planning your marketing campaign make sure there is a measurable goal.

Has your strategy generated sales?

Leads, sales, and leads that turned into sales are clear ways to measure success of your marketing campaign. While money made is not the sole indicator of success within a business, cash flow is the only way a business can thrive.

I know this is common sense, but I’ve seen many businesses execute flashy marketing campaigns that never generate any sales, or are distracted by data that looks great but in actuality fails to prove anything at all. Speaking of…

Are you reporting on more than vanity metrics?

I’m often asked about vanity metrics and if they hold value when measuring marketing ROI. The short answer to that question is yes; of course the amount of clicks, opens, visits, etc. is important, but if they don’t generate sales, or if you can’t prove that they have generated hard, cold cash for the business, then they have little to no value when proving ROI.

Raising brand awareness is great! But if your marketing efforts don’t translate to dollars then it’s time to reevaluate your strategy.

2) Consider brand awareness.

This is a difficult one to track and measure. The most important part of tracking awareness of your brand is the data you need to back up your conclusions. However, this does not mean that you should print out your reports from social management tools and Google Analytics and hand them to your boss. Raw data is just that—raw data.

The goal here is to interpret and paint a picture that gives insight into the project. If you’re not comfortable navigating marketing analytics, then check out this blog.

3) Don’t make assumptions.

One of the biggest mistakes that marketers make is assuming. Assuming that a strategy is going to work before they test, assuming what works for one audience will work for another…

The most important step in proving ROI of your marketing efforts is to prove them over and over again. Analyze your results after every campaign, monthly for longer campaigns, for every new initiative. Your marketing plan is living and breathing, and should be adjusted based on the success and failure of every new initiative.

How do you track marketing ROI? Are there any specific tips and tricks to add? Let us know by commenting below!

Need help boosting marketing ROI? Contact Milwaukee Marketing agency, Accelity Marketing.